Below is a chronological list of key milestones
in New Mexico license plate history. It is not intended to be
all-inclusive; rather, it provides a general overview of some of the
more important motor vehicle registration and licensing events which
have taken place over the past century. For a much more detailed account
please see the book Early New Mexico License Plates, whose 600 pages
cover all aspects of this fascinating history.

1910 – Although the Territorial government never
required the licensing of motor vehicles, Albuquerque, Las Vegas and
Santa Fe do so independently beginning in 1910.

1911 – Raton becomes the fourth and last municipal
jurisdiction to require licensing of motor vehicles.

1912 – New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the
47th state and begins issuing undated green-on-white license plates to
automobiles only. Each vehicle receives a single plate, to be attached
to the rear of the car. Louis C. Ilfeld, a wealthy businessman in Las
Vegas, receives plate # 1 for his Velie automobile. By year’s end, 904
plates have been issued.

1913 – The same undated green-on-white plates
continue to be issued to cars, picking up with plate # 905 on January 2.
Effective March 15, trucks and motorcycles must be registered, too.
Trucks receive the same plates as cars, while motorcycles receive small
vertically-oriented plates. By the end of the year 1,898 of the generic
1912-1913 car/truck plates have been issued.

1913 – Also effective March 15, automobile
dealerships are required to be licensed, but only 23 dealer license
plates are issued in this first year.

1914 – License plates are dated for the first time.
Colors are changed to white on green, and will change again virtually
every year for the next fifty years. Not until the 1960's will color
changes become less frequent.

1915 – Total motor vehicle registrations exceed
5,000.

1920 – Porcelain-coated license
plates are introduced with the idea of saving money by using them for
five years. In 1921 through 1924, they are to be revalidated by
attachment of a small colored metal seal, or tab, the equivalent of
today’s renewal stickers.

1920 – The porcelain plates issued to motorcycles
are curved so that they will match the shape of the rear fender. The
idea is that they will fit snugly, like a glove, over the fender.

1921 – A red diamond-shaped metal seal is attached
to the 1920 porcelain plates to validate them for 1921.

1922 – A silver octagon-shaped metal seal is
attached to the 1920 porcelain plates to validate them for 1922.

1922 – Total motor vehicle registrations exceed
25,000.

1923 – A yellow 6-pointed star-shaped metal seal is
attached to the 1920 porcelain plates to validate them for 1923.

1923 – At mid-year the New Mexico State Highway
Department is the first state agency to receive unique license plates.
These are porcelain plates, in use for only six months.

1923 – Also at mid-year, and for the first time,
certain commercial vehicles, including both cars and trucks, receive
unique license plates. These are standard embossed steel plates, rather
than porcelain.

1923 – Although they do not have motors,
registration is required for trailers, which receive small
motorcycle-size license plates. A decade later these will be enlarged to
the size of car plates.

1924 – One year earlier than originally planned,
porcelain plates are removed from service because law enforcement
officials found it too difficult to ascertain whether the revalidation
seals on the plates were current. The state reverts to standard embossed
steel plates, and for the first time issues two plates to each car and
truck—one for the front and one for the back.

1924 – Motorcycle license plates are switched from
the vertical format that had been in use for over a decade, to the
horizontal format that continues to be used today.

1924 – For the first time, the Governor is given
plate #1, the number which Louis Ilfeld had held since 1912. The
recipient is Governor James E. Hinkle, a Democrat.

1925 – Experience the prior
year showed that some people with two cars would register only one of
them, and use one of the two issued plates on each car. To combat the
chiselers the words “FRONT” and “REAR,” respectively, are embossed on
the two 1925 plates.

1926 – The “FRONT” and “REAR” designations on the
plates are dropped after just one year of use.

1926 – Total motor vehicle registrations exceed
50,000.

1927 – The zia sun symbol appears on New Mexico
license plates for the first time, with the two-digit year appearing
inside the zia. Also for the first time, the state name is spelled out
in full, rather than being abbreviated.

1928 – The Governor’s license plate is made
distinctive by embossing the word “GOVERNOR” at the top. The plate bears
number “1” and the recipient is Republican Governor Richard C. Dillon.

1929 – Vehicles owned by the various city, county,
and state agencies begin receiving license plates embossed with the word
“OFFICIAL.”

1929 – Vehicles operated within New Mexico by
Federal government agencies are provided OFFICIAL plates whose plate
numbers include the letters “U.S.”

1929 – Total motor vehicle registrations pass
75,000.

1930 – Non-commercial trucks such as those owned by
farmers and other individuals receive unique plates for the first time.
The word “TRUCK” is embossed on the plate.

1931 – No later than this year, the state began
issuing specially designated plates for “Driverless Cars.” This
contradictory sounding name was the term generally used for rental cars
in the 1920's and 1930's.

1932 – Long before the concept of “The Land of
Enchantment” was thought up, New Mexico had for many years billed itself
as the “Sunshine State” as an attraction to potential tourists, though
1932 was the only year that this slogan is placed on its license plates.
The phrase Land of Enchantment didn’t appear on her plates until 1941,
and Florida, formerly the “Citrus State,” didn’t pick up New Mexico’s
discarded Sunshine State slogan until 1949.

1932 – Until the late 1930's many states did not
unequivocally honor the license plates of vehicles from other states.
Initially, New Mexico, required visitors to buy a license plate after
being in state just sixty days. By 1932 the grace period had been
extended to six months, and a special souvenir Guest, or “GST” license
plate can be purchased by out-of-state’ers at a cost of one dollar.

1932 – Special plates are made available to
commissioned officers in the New Mexico National Guard.

1933 – At the urging of Governor Arthur Seligman,
New Mexico’s first statewide highway patrol is established under the
name New Mexico Motor Patrol as an all-motorcycle force with just ten
officers. Regular civilian license plates were issued to the Motor
Patrol’s Harley-Davidson police motorcycles.

1933 – Beginning with the first plates issued under
statehood, the state had bought all of its license plates from
out-of-state civilian contractors. In late 1933 New Mexico buys its own
manufacturing equipment and installs it in the State Prison at Santa Fe.
From 1934 through 1998 all New Mexico plates are made by convicts at the
State Pen.

1935 – The New Mexico Motor Patrol changes its name
to New Mexico State Police, and beginning in 1938 will receive special
plates for its vehicles. These plates bear the “State Police” name, and
the practice continues to this day.

1936 – Total motor vehicle registrations exceed
100,000.

1937 – Other than the current Centennial plates,
1937 is the only year that New Mexico ever made a regular-issue license
plate whose color even remotely resembles turquoise. In fact, the ’37
color is best described as robin’s egg blue, and it has dark maroon
numbers. Officially, the colors are called “Navajo red on turquoise
blue.”

1937 – Salesman plates are introduced.

1937 – Truck registrations exceed 25,000.

1939 – Salesman plates are discontinued and School
Bus plates are introduced in the same general layout as the former
Salesman plates.

1940 – In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s passage through the state, and for this
one year only, the phrase “CORONADO CUARTO CENTENNIAL” appears
prominently across the top of New Mexico’s plates .

1941 – New Mexico’s recently adopted nickname of
“The Land of Enchantment” appears on license plates for the first time.
The word “The” is dropped in 1952.

1941 – Special plates are made available to members
of the New Mexico Mounted Patrol, an all-volunteer police auxiliary
organization whose operations were largely carried out on horseback. The
license plates were for their cars and trucks, not the horses.

1943 – The critical metal shortages of World War II
induce New Mexico to forgo issuing metal plates. Instead, vehicles keep
their 1942 plates, and receive a paper decal which is glued to the
inside of the windshield. The only exceptions, motorcycles and trailers
(which typically did not have windshields), receive their usual metal
plates.

1944 – Metal plates are
reintroduced, but in keeping with war materiel conservation each vehicle
receives only one plate, a policy that will last through 1947.

1946 – Special plates are made for a limited number
of elected officials other than just the Governor. The Secretary of
State, for example, receives a plate embossed with that title.

1947 – With the close of World War II in 1945,
America found itself with tens of thousands of unneeded military
airplanes. What to do with all that aluminum? Make license plates out of
airplanes! Whereas all New Mexico plates in the past were made of steel,
1947 was the beginning of several years of aluminum plates. Since that
time the state has switched back and forth between the two materials as
costs have fluctuated.

1947 – A numerical county number prefix is added to
all plates, with the zia symbol separating the county number from the
plate serial number. Santa Fe gets county #1, Bernalillo #2, and so on
through #31 for Mora County. The counties are renumbered in 1948, with
all but eight counties receiving reshuffled prefixes. Los Alamos County,
formed in 1949, subsequently is assigned #32, while Cibola County,
created in 1981, came along after county prefixes had already been
discontinued in 1972.

1947 – New Mexico registrations of passenger cars
alone surpass 100,000 for the first time.

1948 – New Mexico resumes issuing two plates to
each vehicle. The 2-plate policy will last another dozen years, until
1960.

1949 – Instead of the usual smooth surface, 1949
plates are embossed with a textured, or “waffle” surface, making the
aluminum less susceptible to cracking from vibration. Other than some
leftover blanks used to make a few plates in the early 1950's, waffle
plates will never be seen again.

1952 – The word “TRUCK” is dropped from a very
small number of truck plates issued late in the year, while retaining
colors that are the reverse of those on passenger plates.

1953 – The two-digit year is moved out of the zia
and placed in the upper left corner of the plate. To make room, the word
“THE” is dropped from the “THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT” slogan.

1953 – Because their cars were equipped with
two-way radio communication equipment which could be useful in highway
emergencies, the state begins issuing special plates to licensed amateur
(“ham”) radio operators in 1953. Bearing the radio call sign of the
operator, these plates make it easier to identify those who might be
able to assist in an emergency. These special plates are still available
today.

1953 – For the first time, special plates are made
available to New Mexico State Senators and State Representatives, and
have been available continuously since then, except 1954.

1953 – The word “TRUCK” is again dropped from some
truck plates, with the conversion complete by the end of the year.
Colors will continue to be the reverse of those on passenger plates
through 1960.

1953 – This is the last known year that seals, or
“tabs,” were used on Commercial plates.

1955 – House trailers are required to be registered
and obtain distinctive license plates, even if they aren’t going
anywhere.

1955 – For this one year only a special tag is
issued to “small trailers.”

1956 – At the urging of the automobile industry,
New Mexico joins with all other states in the country in standardizing
the size of their plates to six by twelve inches, thereby simplifying
the manufacture of bumpers.

1960 – New Mexico begins issuing renewal stickers
for the first time, rather than issuing new plates every year. The 1960
stickers are affixed to the 1959 plates. Governor John Burroughs
receives sticker # 1.

1960 – Total registrations pass the 500,000 mark.

1961 – Undated plates are introduced to facilitate
the use of renewal stickers over a multi-year period. Although plates
with embossed dates would appear a few more times in the future, the
undated plate is here to stay.

1961 – Reflective plates are adopted for general
use, a decade after they were first used on Official vehicles.

1961 – The practice of making truck plates with
colors the reverse of passenger colors is ended. From now through 1974
truck tags will have distinctly different colors.

1961 – The front license plate is eliminated,
returning to the one-plate-per-car policy which is still the rule more
than a half century later.

1963 – Horseless Carriage license plates become
available for vehicles more than 35 years old. At the time, the 35 year
age stipulation made perfect sense for this classification, but the
requirement has never been updated, which means that today you can get a
Horseless Carriage plate for a 1979 muscle car.

1967 – Personalized, or “vanity” plates are made
available for cars and trucks. Although only forty-three of these plates
are sold the first year, they will later become immensely popular.

1969 – The letters “USA” are added after the state
name to help geography-challenged people in other states know where we’re
from.

1969 – Truck registrations pass 150,000.

1970 – Automobile registrations are up to 450,000
and motorcycle registrations reach 20,000.

1970 – Total registrations exceed 750,000.

1972 – Motor vehicles have become so numerous that
New Mexico’s license plates have run out of room for numbers. This
forces the elimination of the county number prefixes, and the
introduction of the three-letter / three-number system for cars. Truck
plates will follow suit in 1975.

1974 – Through a combination of material shortages
and bureaucratic bungling, the state runs out of steel license plate
blanks and finds itself forced to issue paper license plates. Two months
later the state is finally able to obtain a supply of aluminum blanks,
and vehicle owners are mailed metal plates bearing the same number as
appeared on the corresponding paper plate.

1974 – During the Arab oil embargo, a special
renewal sticker is issued to vehicles which run on propane, or LPG.

1975 – The county prefix system is eliminated on
Truck plates. In its place is a two-letter / four-number serial
configuration.

1975 – A general reissue of virtually all
non-passenger plates is done in red-on-yellow colors.

1976 – In order to satisfy motorists who lamented
the loss of the county number system, plates are introduced which have a
rectangular depression at the top where a decal bearing the county name
can be optionally affixed.

1976 – In celebration of the country’s
bicentennial, purchasers of vanity plates this year receive a stunning
red, white and blue license plate.

1979 – Although today’s familiar red-on-yellow
color scheme had been used sporadically as far back as 1929, it isn’t
until the end of the 1970's that these colors, drawn from those of the
state flag, become permanent.

1979 – Vanity plates are made available for
motorcycles for the first time.

1980 – The flood gates are opened, and over the
next thirty years the State Legislature authorizes dozens of new types
of license plates to be issued to commemorate New Mexico military
veterans, public servants, volunteer organizations, fraternal
organizations, museums, universities, and other special causes.

1982 – For the past seventy years, New Mexico’s
license plates had always expired on December 31, sometimes with a 30-
or 60-day grace period. Consequently, the workload at the Department of
Motor Vehicles (later renamed the Motor Vehicle Division) during this
period was not only unmanageable, but was further exacerbated by the
renewal period falling in the middle of the traditional Christmas - New
Year’s holiday season. In April 1982, the staggered registration system
is introduced, such that a vehicle’s registration will expire in the
same month that it was initially registered, thereby spreading the
Department’s workload evenly throughout the year. Renewal stickers,
therefore, now bear the month as well as the year.

1992 – For well over a half century, since 1930,
New Mexico has issued unique plates to light trucks (e.g., pickup
trucks). Hereafter, they will receive the same plates as cars.

1992 – The three-letter / three-number layout is
reversed to a three-number / three letter sequence. Native American
designs and picture of a yucca are added to the border.

1999
– Optional
2-year registration became available January 2, 1999.

2000 – The popular “balloon” plate is made
available for general issue.

2001 – Since their inception in 1960, the serial
numbers on renewal stickers had no direct relationship to the serial
numbers of the plates themselves. In 2001 the serial numbering system on
the stickers is changed such that the sticker serial matches the plate
serial. This is done for all types of plates, not just those for
passenger cars.

2010 - 2016 – One hundred years after New Mexico’s
first license plates were issued, the Motor Vehicle Division makes
available the “turquoise” Centennial plate. A common misconception is
that this is a “retro” design, harking back to the appearance of New
Mexico’s early license plates. In fact, the only year that New Mexico
had plates whose color came even close to resembling turquoise was 1937,
and even on those plates the numbers were dark maroon, not yellow. In
spite of grumbling about these new plates being difficult to read, they
have become wildly popular with motorists.

2016 - 2019 - The Centennial
slogan at the top of the turquoise plates is removed because it is no
longer timely. Turquoise plates are still available, though, now
with the Land of Enchantment slogan moved up from the bottom of the
plate to take the place of the Centennial slogan. Additionally, the
letters "USA" which had not previously been used on the turquoise tags,
have been added after the state name.

2017 – In a race to beat out Colorado—a state
alleged to have designs to usurp New Mexico’s long standing title of
“Chile Capital of the World”—the New Mexico MVD began releasing its new
Chile license plates on July 10, 2017, somewhat earlier than originally
planned. These plates were initially made available in Passenger Car,
Motorcycle, Vanity, and Motorcycle Vanity styles, all of which are
illustrated in the respective categories here on the NMplates.com
website.